Alain Baxter Sets Cracking Pace at BASI Eurotest
Alain Baxter Sets Cracking Pace at BASI Eurotest
Published : 27-Feb-2013 10:28
Under blue skies and in perfect racing conditions skiing legend Alain Baxter was one of four BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors) pace-setters who hurtled down the famous White Lady piste at CairnGorm Mountain (www.cairngormmountain.org) on Tuesday to set the time for aspiring top level ski instructors to emulate.
Twenty-one BASI level 4 instructors attempted to get within 18% of the aggregate time of the pace-setters in order to gain this final accolade and widespread international recognition for their qualification.
The FIS (Federation International de Ski)/BASI test on a Giant Slalom course takes place 13 or 14 times a year usually in Europe but this was the first such test to take place in Scotland for five years.
The target time for the men set by Alain and his fellow pace-setters (Aaron Tipping, Jazz Bruce and Nicolas Sauvage) was 45.82 seconds in the morning and 45.87 in the afternoon but it was just too demanding for even the best of the racers with the closest, Todd O'Brien, missing out by a gut-wrenching 0.5 seconds.
"This was a very efficiently organised event in perfect racing conditions and I would like to congratulate CairnGorm Mountain on their race piste preparation as well as thanking them for arranging the wall to wall sunshine!" said BASI Eurotest co-ordinator Susie Berry,
"Obviously the participants were disappointed not to pass, but this demonstrates just how tough a challenge this is. It is not uncommon for BASI Level 4 instructors to take five or six attempts before they pass this speed test. BASI hopes to run a Eurotest in Scotland every two years in future."
Alain Baxter last skied competitively in the British Championships five years ago and is currently contracted as an 'opener' for BASI Eurotests in Europe, undertaking up to six tests each season. He runs a specialist ski-boot fitting service and shop in Stirling where he lives with his family. Two of his children were on the pistes at CairnGorm skiing with their grandfather, Iain Baxter, himself a former BASI Trainer and British ski champion.
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